The Atlanta Hawks entered with a look of a team willing to write this one off.

Al Horford remained behind in Atlanta with his newborn son, with fellow Hawks starters Jeff Teague and DeMarre Carroll given the night off to rest ailments. Such is Atlanta's comfortable lead in the Eastern Conference.

And yet there stood the Miami Heat in the first half, unable to get out of their way, with a mere 33 points at the intermission.

And there stood the Heat in the third quarter, down 18.

Ultimately, a 38-point fourth quarter from the Heat and 24 rebounds from center Hassan Whiteside weren't nearly enough on a night Erik Spoelstra's team couldn't shoot or pass straight.

(Michael Laughlin)

Closing 32 of 81 from the field and committing 23 turnovers, the Heat fell 93-91 Saturday night at AmericanAirlines Arena, another bad home loss in a series of those this season.

"We've got to find a way to win ugly if we want to be in the playoffs," guard Dwyane Wade said.

This was ugly. But it wasn't a win.

"We just have to continue to work to get better," Spoelstra said.

No, this wasn't quite the same as losing at home to the Orlando Magic or the Philadelphia 76ers, but based on the roster the Hawks fielded, it wasn't that far off, as the Heat's home record dropped to 10-17 at the start of this three-game homestand.

While Whiteside matched his season high with those 24 rebounds and scored 14 points, and while Wade added 22 points, it wasn't enough on a night there was precious little from Luol Deng and Goran Dragic.

Deng closed with eight points, Dragic with six, dealing with a back injury he sustained in the first half.

With Chris Bosh lost for the season, as well as Josh McRoberts, and with Dragic now ailing, Wade didn't want to hear about the lineup fielded by the Hawks.

"Without three starters?" he said of the Hawks. "You've seen what we've been without?"

Like they did in Wednesday's overtime victory in Orlando, the Heat staged a furious comeback late, after again falling behind by double-digits, with a Wade jumper drawing them with 86-80 with 1:23 to play. A 3-pointer by Deng then drew the Heat within 92-88 with 12.6 seconds left. The game ended with Chalmers draining a 3-pointer.

"We made a lot of mistakes and then we started to press," Spoelstra said of his team's uneven start. "The turnovers really made it tough on us.

"Once we settled in, I think some of our best possessions of the last couple of weeks were in the second half."

For his part, Whiteside did as told, after he was informed during a pregame conversation that backup center Chris Andersen would not be available due to the flu.

"Before the game," Whiteside said, "Coach told me he needed 20 rebounds from me. I just do what I'm told."

The Hawks' expectations were limited going in.

Coming off Friday's home victory over the Magic, Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer elected to go without Horford, Teague, Carroll and sixth man Pero Antic. That put Kent Bazemore, Elton Brand and Dennis Schroder in Atlanta's starting lineup. It was Brand's first start of the season.

Spoelstra also was forced to adjust.

With Andersen at the arena but unable to play, Spoelstra played Udonis Haslem off his bench as his lone backup center, starting Henry Walker at power forward. That gave the Heat their 23rd starting lineup of the season. Walker struggled to a 3-of-16 close from the field.

Haslem had started the previous five games since Bosh was diagnosed with blood clots on his lung that will keep him out at least for the balance of the season. Bosh was released from the hospital Friday, according to Spoelstra.

The game also marked the first home appearance for Beasley since he rejoined the team. Beasley closed with nine points on 4-of-12 shooting in 25 minutes before fouling out late.

After falling behind by 18 early in the third period, the Heat clawed back within seven later in the quarter, but went into the fourth down 64-53, already with 19 turnovers to that stage, shooting 20 of 64 over the first three periods.

Whiteside had 22 rebounds through the first three periods, as well as 11 points.

The Heat's most emotional moment in the third period was a thunderous dunk by Beasley. But that immediately was followed by a technical foul on Beasley for celebrating, when the Heat were down by nine.

The Heat missed 15 consecutive shots bridging the first and second periods, to fall to 5 of 27 from the field. With 10 turnovers to that stage, as well, they found themselves down 31-16.

Chalmers finally broke the drought with a 3-pointer and Wade followed with a layup to make it 31-21, with the Heat going with a three-guard approach.

The Heat went into the intermission down 43-33, at 12 of 42 from the field with 14 turnovers. Deng had six first-half turnovers, Wade four and Beasley three.

Neither Deng nor Dragic scored for the Heat in the first half. Dragic was 0 for 4 over the first two periods and Deng 0 for 2.

The first quarter was a portrait of putrid for everyone on the Heat not named Whiteside. Then again, among the reasons Whiteside snared 10 first-quarter rebounds was because the Heat shot 5 of 20 in the quarter.

With the rancid shooting, seven turnovers and not a single free-throw attempt over the opening 12 minutes, the Heat went into the second quarter down 17-12.

The Hawks, a potential first-round playoff opponent, are now 3-0 against the Heat, with one game remaining in the season series. The Heat have now lost five in a row to the Hawks.

iwinderman@tribpub.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman.